[2019-05-22] Companies from China invest over 8 billion euros in Portugal in 2018

Source: Macauhub

Companies from China invested more than 8 billion euros in Portugal in 2018, the deputy director general of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said on Tuesday in Lisbon.

Tian Dewen, speaking at the “Years of cooperation between Portugal and China” meeting held on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Portuguese capital, also said that in that same year Portuguese companies invested more than US$200 million in China, with bilateral trade recording an annual increase of 7.6%.

The deputy director general of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that the relationship between Portugal and China has three characteristics, the first being the idea that international cooperation between the two countries “is very compatible.”

The second is that both countries oppose trade protectionism and unilateralism, supporting an open world economy, and the final characteristic is the fact that both Portugal and China mutually support international development strategies.

“Portugal supports the Chinese Belt and Road initiative and the two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding to build this project,” he said, referring to the document signed in Lisbon in December 2018 during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For its part, “China supports the idea of Portugal’s blue economy,” and therefore “economic cooperation has grown,” said Tian Dewen.

Speaking to Portuguese state news agency Lusa, the dean of the University of Lisbon António Cruz Serra announced that Portugal and China will create a joint school that will bring together the University of Lisbon and the University of Shanghai mainly focused on engineering.

Cruz Serra also said that the partnership will allow the students to “to do part of their course in Shanghai and another part in Lisbon,” and the academic degree will be awarded by both universities.

The project fits into the scope of cooperation between higher education institutions from the two countries that already, “includes 64 Chinese universities,” said Cruz Serra.